After a 26-17 loss Friday night to the Detroit Lions, Rex Ryan admitted he wasn't watching at times when the New York Jets' offense was on the field.

Rex Ryan kept an eye on the defense. The offense ?

That's another story.

As you know, Ryan has decided to run the defense this season, as he did in 2009 and 2010. It's his bread and butter, and he wants to be heavily involved again. OK, fine, but he apparently had his back turned to the field while coaching up the defense between series.Asked about Mark Sanchez's interception, Ryan said, "I never saw it. I caught the tail end of it." He saw DE Ziggy Ansah returning it 14 yards for a touchdown. Later in his postgame news conference, Ryan was asked to assess Geno Smith's performance. He didn't."I had my own issues on the other side, so I never really focused a whole lot while he was in there," Ryan said. "We'll see it on tape. You probably saw more plays than I did."

This was a stunning admission for a head coach. How could he not watch his rookie quarterback? How could he not have his eye on Sanchez? Maybe Ryan's approach will change in the regular season. Maybe he will spend less time with hands-on coaching and more time managing the entire game from the sideline. That's how it should be; that's his job. It's nice that he has that much faith in OC Marty Mornhinweg, but you can't have two head coaches -- one for defense, one for offense.

Observations from the press box after the New York Jets' 26-17 loss to the Detroit Lions in the preseason opener :

1. A Rex-storm: I think people are getting carried away with Rex Ryan's admission that he missed plays on offense -- including a lot of Geno Smith -- because he was too busy with the defense on the sideline. Granted, it was highly unusual for a head coach to admit such a thing; most coaches would've talked around it by saying, "I need to watch the tape." But let's remember one thing: It was a preseason game. If it had been the regular season, yes, he'd deserve criticism.Presumably, Ryan is using the preseason to fix a defense that has seven new starters. When the real games start, he'll be in head-coach mode, managing the entire game -- at least he'd better be. He took a heavy-handed approach with the defense in 2009 and 2010, and that didn't stop the Jets from making the playoffs, did it?

2. MartyBall: It serves no purpose to question play calling in the preseason -- coaches are in an experimental mode -- but it's worth noting that the Jets called 42 pass plays and only 16 runs against the Lions. Offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg is known as a pass-happy coach, a style that usually doesn't marry well with defensive-minded head coaches. Just saying.Jeff Cumberland scored in the first quarter. Last season, the Jets' offense didn't produce a TD until the fourth preseason game.

3. Off the Mark: I watched Mark Sanchez's pick-6 over and over, and I still can't believe he made that throw. Rookie fullback Tommy Bohanon has to do a better job of leaking out of the backfield, but he was on his knees -- knocked over by ex-Jet C.J. Mosley -- when Sanchez lobbed the pass. Sanchez, backpedaling in the face of pressure, panicked.But let's give credit where it's due: On the 26-yard touchdown pass to Jeff Cumberland, Sanchez made a fantastic read. He recognized 3-by-2 coverage on the weak side, knowing the Lions had no deep help on the strong side, where Cumberland ran a seam route. Sanchez showed nice anticipation, releasing the ball a split-second before Cumberland broke away from the linebacker. As I noted Friday night, Sanchez has moved into the lead for the starting job.

4. The new Geno: Rookie QB Geno Smith played almost exclusively in the shotgun at West Virginia, so there was some question as to how he'd respond to playing under center in a traditional offense. There were no noticeable hiccups in the game. In fact, he was 3-for-3 for 27 yards under center and 3-for-4 for 20 yards from shotgun.

5. Rough debut: RG Willie Colon was a solid player for many years with the Steelers, but he got off to a shaky start in his Jets debut. He was called for two penalties, and that's noteworthy because he was the Steelers' most penalized offensive player last season -- 12 penalties. That's a crazy amount for an interior lineman. Colon also allowed the pressure that caused Smith to have a pass batted at the line.

6. Uh-oh, Oday: I think OT Oday Aboushi, a fifth-round pick from Virginia, is on the roster bubble. Aboushi got beat by rookie DE Devin Taylor on a strip sack of Greg McElroy, and he also was flagged for two penalties (one declined). The Jets are looking for a backup swing tackle. Aboushi is a candidate for the job, but so is J.B. Shugarts, a first-year player from Ohio State. Shugarts played 36 snaps in the game, more than any offensive lineman.

7. Big Mac under attack: You have to admire McElroy's moxie, but, man, he takes a lot of hits. He was sacked three times and absorbed what appeared to be a helmet-to-helmet hit on one play -- it wasn't called. McElroy said he was fine after the game, but he also said he was fine after last December's beatdown inflicted by the Chargers, and that turned out to be a concusssion. Either way, it looks like he has locked up the No. 3 job. He made nice improv play on his 9-yard touchdown pass to Zach Rogers.

8. J.J. is dy-no-mite: The coaches went into the game buzzing about former Eagles S Jaiquawn Jarrett, eager to see him in a game setting after impressive work on the practice field and in the classroom. He responded nicely and has leap frogged Antonio Allen on the depth chart, according to Ryan. Jarrett was a second-round pick in 2011, so you know the physical talent is there.

9. Silver-lining playbook: Looking for a positive from the game? The Jets scored two offensive touchdowns. A year ago, they didn't score one until the fourth preseason game -- and that came from the third-team offense.

10. Calling all runners: The Jets lost RB John Griffin (broken leg) for the season, testing their backfield depth, but they expect Chris Ivory (hamstring) and Joe McKnight (head) to practice Sunday. For Ivory, it would his first full practice of camp.

The New York Jets opened the preseason Friday night with a 26-17 loss to the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. Despite a killer interception, Mark Sanchez won the night over Geno Smith in the ballyhooed quarterback competition. Smith left in the third quarter after rolling his ankle. It doesn't appear serious, but he can't afford to miss any practice time.

What it means: As it stands now, Sanchez will be the opening-day starter. He gave as many points to the Lions as he produced for the Jets -- seven -- but he showed greater command than Smith, who delivered a nondescript performance in his NFL debut. Smith is doomed if he misses any practice time; it's almost impossible for a rookie to play catch-up in training camp.

Sanchez's night: It was the worst possible start for Sanchez, who threw a pick-six on the Jets' first series. Under pressure on a screen pass, he didn't put enough air under the pass and it was intercepted by rookie defensive end Ziggy Ansah, who returned it 14 yards for a touchdown. Sanchez has a maddening tendency to turn a safe pass into a calamity. In fact, he almost had another screen intercepted.

To Sanchez's credit, he responded to the disastrous start to finish 10-for-13 for 125 yards with a 26-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Jeff Cumberland. It culminated a seven-play, 80-yard drive, much of which came in the hurry-up offense. It was typical Sanchez -- some good, some ugly. Some things don't change.

Geno's night: Unlike Sanchez, Smith didn't make any horrible mistakes, but he also didn't bring any spark to the offense. The former West Virginia star, who got two series behind the starting offensive line, generated only one first down on his first three drives -- a 15-yard pass to Clyde Gates on his first play. Simply put, Smith didn't look ready to take over the team. He finished 6-for-7 for 47 yards. Smith came out on the first series of the third quarter, when he turned his right ankle on an open-field scramble.

Greg McElroy came in and did a nice job against the Lions' third-stringers, going 11-for-19 for 145 yards and an 11-yard TD pass to Zach Rogers.

Big-play tight ends: Dustin Keller is gone, but Cumberland and Kellen Winslow displayed playmaking ability. Winslow made a nice catch and run for 24 yards. Cumberland scored his touchdown on a deep seam, showing his ability to get vertical. It's too soon to say the Jets have two weapons at tight end, but it was a good start.

Another injured running back: John Griffin was carted off with a lower-leg injury. It didn't look good. Already down Chris Ivory, Mike Goodson and Joe McKnight, the Jets can't afford another injury in the backfield. Ivory (hamstring) is expected to return Sunday.

New-look defense: The Jets opened with seven new starters in the post-Darrelle Revis era. All things considered, the defense held up fairly well. Most of the starters played most of the first half, an unusually long stint for the first game, and allowed 10 points. Cornerback Darrin Walls, an early substitution for starter Antonio Cromartie, got beat on a 15-yard scoring pass. One player who jumped out was nose tackle Kenrick Ellis, who deflected a pass and held the point of attack. Safety Dawan Landry got beat once in coverage. Keep in mind that Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford played only two series.

The rookies: It was a so-so debut for top pick Dee Milliner, who started at corner in the base defense. He didn't have to cover all-world receiver Calvin Johnson -- Cromartie drew that assignment -- so that made life easier for Milliner. He had a nice pass breakup in the end zone, but he missed an open-field tackle and allowed a 27-yard reception. Milliner gets some slack, though, because he missed a lot of time and is rusty. It was a relatively quiet night for defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson.

The Q report: Former first-round pick Quinton Coples, making the transition to outside linebacker, flashed good and bad on his first two plays. He deflected a pass on an outside rush, but he failed to set the edge on an outside run by Reggie Bush. Coples didn't move well in space. This will be an interesting position change.

What's ahead: The Jets return to Cortland, for four days of practice. They break camp Thursday and return to Florham Park, N.Y., where they will prepare for next Saturday's game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

I figured we’d start a little different today. I brought some video in and some things that you look for. Obviously you look for areas that you have to improve in. Eleven penalties, I have a funny feeling that’s probably the highest priority. That obviously is. But you also are looking for different things. You’re looking at individuals, you’re looking at what you’re emphasizing and is it getting across? You like to see it on the game field as well as on the practice field.

What I’m going to do is I put a couple plays here of Jeff Cumberland and I think with Jeff, here’s a guy, as you guys know, came here, was a wide receiver in college. We worked him out. Dev [OL coach Mike Devlin] was the tight ends coach back then. I liked him, he had some size and things, but we made him a tight end. Obviously he’s got the speed that you covet, a sub-4.5 guy, and he’s got size. But the thing that I’ve really been impressed with with Jeff is his blocking and how that’s improved. In this game he had to go up against those big ends a lot of times and he did a good job.And the other thing is you’ve got to be able to block in space and so what I’m showing here is a run by, I believe that’s [Bilal] Powell back there, and you’re going to see how he’s coming down to block this linebacker and you stick him. A lot of times you’ll lose him, but he does a great job here with what we’ve worked a lot on, Steve [Hagen] is working hard with, is he’s squaring this guy up and he’s pressing to step up the field when Powell breaks this tackle or makes this guy miss, he’s in a position to finish that block off. So this is something that we look for and as you’re looking at Jeff here, specifically, now he’s coming inside and blocking the guy in space and that’s hard to do. He’ll pick up other blocks by Tommy [Bohanon] and finish up. I thought he did a good job as well for us. It opens up Willie [Colon] and things but the main guy that I really want to focus on is Cumberland and that’s just obviously a terrific job. Nice finish to the run here by Powell.

Now we’re going to look at the touchdown he catches. You’ve got a two-tight-end set, nice vertical release. You’ve got to get away from, in this particular defense, you’ve got a guy lined up outside but he inside-releases and then you see that speed. Obviously they had a little bit of difficulty in this coverage but you see that vertical speed that Jeff has. He’s a big target down the field and we're really happy with the way he’s playing. Our situation right now, we need him to be a complete tight end and that’s really what he’s becoming and so I'm really, really proud of the way he’s progressed, especially through the years, making that conversion from a receiver.All right, another thing that I want to do, I want to show you guys that why I feel really good about where we’re at defensively is the pursuit. It’s a big thing that we talked about the first day of camp. We talked about being the fastest defense in the league but being the most aggressive, and in your pursuit you’ve got to get 11 guys flying to that football. We stress it over and over and you’re going to get a couple examples of this.This actually is one of their longest carries of the day, a great run here by Reggie Bush. But what we always tell our guys, if they’re going to fire their gun, they’re going to be backed up by their buddies. So you’re going to see Kyle [Wilson] come up here and I’m sure you missed [a] tackle. I’m actually going to show you two missed tackles. Here’s one, but you’re being aggressive, you’re going to make the guy do something and that’s going to allow that pursuit to get there. And as you can see when we talk about pursuit, it’s not just a thing about running to the ball. If you just said to run to the ball, you’d have all 11 guys running down here.But there’s a certain thing and when you see us do that drill at the start of practice where we fan the field, that’s exactly what it looks like. And what that does is that prevents big plays and so when you’re running a pursuit, we tell our guys, "Don’t follow the same color." So when it goes like this, obviously, now I’m not following the same color. If all I did was run an angle like this, I’m not going to be a part of the play. So here, we’re getting what we want. You see that drill every week. It looked like a little bit of a warmup drill but there’s a purpose to it and that’s how every play should look like this. And you see about eight guys in the picture here that are pursuing the ball. We’ve got a couple guys down. All right, we missed the tackle, Reggie Bush makes a great run here, but you see all of that pursuit.

So you put that on tape, if you’re a running back, maybe you ought to just go down. That’s what we want, all right? I don’t know if they’re going to sign up for it, but we’re certainly going to let them know that if you don't slide down, we’ve got help, help’s on the way. The one kid that has really jumped out at me as a rookie, who's doing a tremendous job in pursuit, is 91, Sheldon Richardson. But you see how these guys don’t follow each other. You see the distance they’re trying to create with each other down the field and when you become an excellent defense, that’s what it should look like.So I gave you this example, I’ve got another one. You want to stay up. let’s give everybody Q [Quinton Coples], he stays up on his feet. Take your shot. Take your shot. Go at it. You know you’re going to be backed up by your buddies. And here it comes. This is one that we miss a tackle. Dee [Milliner] misses a tackle on this back and wants to pursue. This is what I’m really encouraged about that’s going to separate us from other teams, other defenses. You can see how we close. It’s the same exact drill, but it just shows you on the perimeter, on a pass, just gives you an idea. Everybody is in their coverage responsibility, yet now we still need to run to the football. Obviously, you see 91 jumping out here and he’s actually the backside tackle.

There are several examples of this during games. You had [Antwan] Barnes, he was one of them, that same style. But this, you’ve got [Garrett] McIntyre, you’ve got [Nick] Bellore. It’s not just a certain group, it’s everybody. They’re all signing off on it, doing a great job running to the ball. You’ll see how Sheldon closes, obviously. I know he doesn’t fit our defense, but for some reason, he fits every defense. This kid can play. You get him flying to the football.I talk about what I get excited about. I get excited about those things that show up. I see a Jeff Cumberland improving, going from a wideout to a complete tight end now. I see the defense running to the football like I’ve always envisioned. So I see it, not just on the practice field but I see it on the game field. That’s really encouraging to me.Now, are there things we need to improve at? Oh, yeah. No question. Communication, obviously, the discipline in staying onside on defense when you’re rushing a passer. We’re saying, "Hey, we’re going to play a lot of Cover-1 this game," so it’s not only going to be on the defensive backs but on the pass rushers. So "Hey, I have to get off the football’ and things like that. When I’m getting off on the count and not the football, bad things happen. We clearly have to get better at that, focusing on the ball and getting off on the snap.And then offensively, the holding calls. We’ve got to get our hands inside, so that was certainly a focus today. We had one penalty, a holding call today. We’ve got to get better. And I think those are things that we have to get better at and when we do, we’ll be pretty tough.

On what it was like to have their No. 1 tight end injured last season…

It was that and Jeff, too. You had your top two a lot of times out. Anytime you have multiple injuries at one position, it’s usually not a real good sign for you. When Dustin [Keller] went out, Jeff had to step up and you saw him getting better. I mean, I saw him getting better. That gave him a chance to learn on the fly a little bit. Now, probably some growing pains, but I’m very confident in Jeff Cumberland now. A complete tight end, a blocking tight end, a guy that can catch the football and can obviously run.

On if there was any question about keeping Geno Smith out of practice today…

When our trainers are like, "Hey, look, he’s going," then that’s it. He’s going to be out there. That’s what happened to him today.

On if he would override the trainers if thought it might be best to rest Geno Smith for one practice…

No, that’s not my job. My job is to coach. I lean on our trainers, who are experts. So I’m going to lean on them, I’ll lean on our medical department with any injury. When they say the young man is cleared to participate, then that’s exactly what’s going to happen. If they say he’s not, you see some guys out there in red jerseys or whatever, that means they’re non-contact, then that’s what you go with. I will obviously lean on and have always leaned on our trainers and our doctors.

On Smith’s practice status…

Again, he was cleared to practice and we’ll see. What it looks like tomorrow may be different than what it looked like today, I’m not sure, but again, I lean on the trainers when they say he’s out there. That’s exactly what happened. Some guys, whether you’re in red jerseys or white jerseys or whatever, might not feel great, but you’re able to practice and Geno was able to practice today.

On how the quarterbacks looked after watching the game video…

Well, I never watched the film. I still haven’t seen the film. That’s what’s so funny, I see every single play, every special teams play, every offensive play, every defensive play, I see every one of them. I guess my thing is, I shouldn’t have said the truth. The truth was, did I see the interception? No. I heard the interception when I hear the fans going crazy and I looked up and I saw the young man, the big dude from BYU [Ezekiel Ansah] running with the football into the end zone and so I relayed that. I said, “Oh shoot.” There was an "Oh," something with an "S," but it was a touchdown, I saw that. I told the truth. I promise you, every coach, there’s no difference. I guess I need to be tactful and say, “Hey, we’ll watch the tape.” From now on, that’s all I’m going to say.

On if he watched Smith in the game…

Yeah, I just said at the time, we were trying to make an adjustment on defense and things, so look, I wasn’t going to get into particulars. I saw nine plays of Geno Smith and missed two. I wasn’t going to get in the particulars of it. I saw him, but whatever, did I see every single snap he took? No, I did not, not live. I’ve seen him now.

On his assessment of Mark Sanchez…

Well, again, there’s a lot of positives. You can look at the numbers and see that. Are there areas for improvement? Of course, you always look for those things. When Mark was in there, I thought we had a chance to make a couple of big plays down the field, yet the protection kind of broke down a little, we slid one way or the other, maybe never had the vision down the field a little bit. Obviously, he clearly made a mistake on the interception. You have to get rid of that ball and we practiced it today, the same scenarios we went over for the corrections. Marty [Mornhinweg] went over and the staff went over it today, and OK, now we’re going to simulate the tackle and the ends slough, now you've got to get rid of the ball, you have to dirt it, whatever, so we have to get better at that. There’s no question that was obviously a huge error. I did like the way he responded. He came back and I thought he threw the ball well, threw it with some accuracy, so that was good to see.

On if he can effectively manage the game if he is more in sync with the defense…

Right, but the same thing my first two years, even later than that. I’m very aware of all the situations, very aware of the situation. "Hey, we’re getting close to a third or whatever, where’s the ball at?" I’ll go down there constantly and "OK, we’re in four-down territory." And if I have to say something I’ll make sure that’s relayed to Marty in that case or whatever, I’ll just go down and tell him. If I have to make an adjustment on defense or whatever, obviously I’m going to lean on Dennis [Thurman], but if I’m doing it myself then that’s what happens. I’m very aware of the situations, the timeouts and all that stuff. The first two years that wasn’t an issue.

On the starting quarterback for Saturday’s game…

Again, we haven’t discussed it yet. We’re still going to get through the week. There could be some factors that change things but I’m not going to get into those specifics. Obviously there could be some factors that may change the original thought. We’ll see as we get closer, there may not be. It could be anything, it could be medical, it could be whatever, but we’ll see.

On if Geno Smith will start Saturday’s game…

We’ll make that evaluation as we go.

On what he saw from Smith against the Lions...

I thought he did some good things. I liked that he showed some poise, made a couple of nice throws, accurate with the football. I think he missed one pass that got tipped. I thought he looked pretty good. Got to give Detroit credit, we were trying to run kind of a speed sweep or whatever and they got two guys blitzing off the edge. Chalk one up for them. That one kind of looked bad. They hit us in the backfield, about a 4-yard loss. For the most part, I thought Geno played well. One time he did a good job avoiding a rush. I would still like to see him get two hands on the football anytime transferring the ball from the top shoulder to the bottom shoulder. I’d still like to see that better. I thought he did well.

On safety Jaiquawn Jarrett…

Just a guy that is really dedicated in learning the defense. Obviously a brand new defense for him. Spends a ton of time doing that. He’s worried about where he is at, he’s worried about how he plays when he gets out there. He just keeps working his tail off. Antonio Allen, also, you go back and watch the tape, he played extremely well. That’s going to be a great competition. We had Jaiquawn running with the ones today, but again, that’s a great competition there.

On what specifically Jarrett has improved since Philadelphia…

Well, we’re not really focused on what we saw on the Philadelphia tape. I just remember we really liked this young man when he came out of Temple, in fact we thought we were going to be in great shape had we gotten Muhammad Wilkerson and him, and Jaiquawn. So now we have those two, might not have been the exact path but we ended up with both players. What he showed Friday night was what we thought he would bring to the table. A guy that is extremely physical, and a great tackler, and that’s exactly what he did. He had some big hits in that game. But he’s doing a tremendous job and I think he’s improving as a deeper defender as well.

On if there were things outside Smith’s control that affected his performance Friday…

Well, penalties. I mean, I think that’s the biggest thing right there. Obviously you’re facing first-and-20 all the time, that’s not very good.

On if Jarrett might start on Saturday night…

Yeah, that’s a possibility, we’ll see, but that’s a possibility. Both those guys are going to play a ton and I’m pleased with both of them.

On if there is any chance he might name an opening-day quarterback for the season before Saturday…

I don’t see that.

On when the ideal time to name season starters will be…

Well, I think the ideal time is sooner than later so they get all the reps and whatever, but we’re not there, at a lot of those positions. I think the best thing, what I’m encouraged about is it’s not that somebody’s given a job or because the lack of quality play from the guy you’re competing with, that hasn’t been the case in any situation, there’s still a lot of starting jobs up for grabs right now and it’s because both guys are battling and doing all for it.

On if he has a more specific diagnosis on Joe McKnight…

It’s a head injury. That’s it, that’s all I’m ever going to say, it’s a head injury.

On how frustrating the running back situation has been…

Well, it’s something that clearly you think that that’s going to be an area of strength for you, depth-wise and everything else. [Bilal] Powell has had to step up and do everything; he’s done a good job of that. Unfortunately, [John] Griffin has, it looks like, a severe leg injury, that’s unfortunate, had one of those horse-collar tackles. But again, you kind of have a M*A*S*H unit over there right now but you hope to get them back and certainly we hope to get those guys back sooner than later.

Rex Ryan is starting to figure out honesty isn’t always the best policy, especially when it makes you look clueless about the most important decision to be made before the Jets’ regular-season opener.

Ryan spent much of yesterday defending himself after admitting he didn’t see much of the performances by quarterbacks Geno Smith and Mark Sanchez during Friday night’s preseason loss to the Lions.

Often criticized for spending too much time with his defense and not enough with the offense, Ryan said he “caught the tail end” of the interception thrown by Sanchez that was returned for a touchdown on the Jets’ first series, and didn’t see much of Smith’s performance because the coach was busy making defensive adjustments.

Perception is everything.

“I saw him,” Ryan said yesterday of Smith’s outing. “Did I see every single snap he took? No. Not live.”

Normally, a head coach not seeing every play his team runs in a preseason game is no big deal. That’s what the tape is for. But it’s a big deal with the Jets because this was the first live action for Smith, the second-round pick from West Virginia, and Sanchez, trying to keep his hold on the starting job. It’s also a big deal because Ryan is often viewed a defensive-minded head coach detached from his offense, now being coached by offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg. That’s why Ryan admitting he didn’t see much of the quarterbacks Friday night raised eyebrows and became news.

Ryan seemed puzzled at the reaction to his admission.

“I promise you that every coach, there’s no difference,” he said. “I guess I need to be tactful and say, ‘We’ll watch the tape.’ From now on, that’s all I’m going to say.”

Truth is, coaches don’t always see everything that happens on the field. But perception can become reality, and the perception is Ryan may not have the loudest voice when it comes to naming the starting quarterback and will have very little to do with the offense this season, having hired Mornhinweg. Both might be true, but it hurts Ryan’s standing as the head coach if it’s perceived he has little input or interest in the offense.

Ryan moved yesterday to dispel that notion.

“I see every play,” he said, referring to his review of game footage. “I see every special-team play, every offensive play, every defensive play. I see every one of them.

“I guess I shouldn’t have told the truth. The truth was, ‘Did I see the interception?’ No. I heard the interception and looked up and saw the young man running with the football and said, ‘Oh, shoot,’ or, ‘Oh, something.’ ”

Every little thing can turn into a big thing with the Jets, especially when a coach is under as much pressure as Ryan. First, general manager John Idzik made headlines earlier in training camp by saying naming the starting quarterback will be an organizational decision after Ryan initially said he would have the final say. Now, the head coach is being viewed as uninterested in the offense. It’s not a good combination for an organization trying to operate in a more unified fashion.

As if to emphasize how much tape he watches, Ryan brought in a television and some videotape to his press conference yesterday for a quick session of Football 101 with the media.

He showed a couple of plays against the Lions, specifically highlighting the work of tight end Jeff Cumberland, who caught a TD pass from Sanchez.

“We need him to be a complete tight end and that’s what he’s becoming,” Ryan said.

The coach then showed some clips of the defense to brag about the way his unit pursued the football.

“It’s a big thing we talked about the first day of camp,” Ryan said.

Interestingly, Ryan didn’t focus on any clips of his quarterbacks. Deciding who will start at that position could set the franchise up for the next decade. Ryan needs to let everyone know he’s paying attention.

Steve Hagen, right, the Jets’ new tight ends coach, has crisscrossed the country for college and N.F.L. jobs, with his family in tow. Steve Hagen has coached football in Illinois, Kansas and Arizona. And in Indiana, Nevada and Ohio. And in Iowa, California and North Carolina. And, now, New Jersey, with the Jets, the latest stop in his 30-year odyssey.
In all, Hagen has held 16 jobs, at 12 colleges and with 2 N.F.L. teams. Some places, like Las Vegas and Cleveland, were so nice, he worked there twice.

He has toiled in the same town as the College Football Hall of Fame (South Bend, Ind.) and served on the staffs of coaches enshrined there (Chris Ault and Lou Holtz). He has been an offensive coordinator four times and a head coach once, at tiny Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. He has tutored quarterbacks, receivers and tight ends, as he did for the Cleveland Browns, as he does for the Jets, as he, call it a hunch, may do for some other team in the future.

“When you’re doing this in Division I or in pro football, you’re basically a freelance contractor,” Hagen, 51, said. “Somebody else might think my life is crazy or nutty, but I may look at theirs as crazy or nutty. My job isn’t for everybody.”

It is what he loves, and what he is good at, and what he realized he wanted to do when he was hanging around Tom Landry and Gene Stallings and the Dallas Cowboys for 14 straight summers at training camp, on the campus of Cal Lutheran. Hagen grew up down the road, in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and stayed there for college, his life a portrait of stability. It was nice back then, living in the same town and having the same friends, but that is not what his family is used to now, or even wants.

“At this point in my life,” his wife, Amy, said, “I couldn’t even imagine living in one place.”

She and Hagen were sitting beside each other at the Jets’ center in New Jersey one afternoon last month, and no, that half-hour was not the longest that they have spent together in one place. On average, the Hagens have moved about every two years. Sometimes, it is his choice to relocate. Other times, it is not. Only once since 1983 has Hagen not been on a college or professional staff, and in that 2005 season — his redshirt year, he called it — they lived a normal life. “Or what other people would consider a normal life,” he said.

The Hagens have three sons and a daughter, their ages ranging from 9 to 18. They have never considered establishing a home base somewhere, opting instead to follow Hagen wherever he goes, joining him as quickly as they can.

“It’s probably harder on our children as they get older because they get connected to their friends and they’re subjected to my livelihood,” Hagen said. “They didn’t have the same luxury as me.”

As a result, he and Amy are mindful every time he takes a new position. Even though the nature of the job hardly changes — “it’s the same game, only with different people,” Hagen said — the impact always ripples through their family. To preserve continuity with their children’s studies, Amy decided several years ago to home-school them.

She and Hagen have also learned to accentuate the positive, never telling them that “we have to move,” he said, but rather “you get to move, and it’s a chance for a new adventure.”

“They’ve had a big, fat field trip,” Hagen said, smiling. He added, “Our philosophy is — and this applies to the kids, too — we don’t lose friends, we just get more.”

When the opportunity arose in January with the Jets, they emphasized the proximity to Manhattan (40 minutes) and the Jersey Shore (60 minutes). Until taking the job, Hagen had visited New York City only once, which, given his travels, seems almost impossible. That trip, for a Notre Dame game against Virginia at Giants Stadium, came 24 years earlier — or, rather, 12 jobs ago.

Hagen accepted the position with the Fighting Irish four months after he met Amy, at Northern Arizona — where he served on the same staff as the Jets’ offensive coordinator, Marty Mornhinweg. She asked what he did. He told her that he coached football. She asked what else he did.

“Practice for two hours and then a game on Saturday, like Pop Warner?” Amy said. “I found out very quickly it wasn’t like Pop Warner.”

They married a few years later and have been in perpetual motion ever since, staying in places long enough to develop an attachment, missing them when they, inevitably, leave. Working at the University of Nevada meant jaunts to Lake Tahoe. Stints in Cleveland allowed for Friday skiing in Cuyahoga Valley. The two years at North Carolina were Amy’s favorite, with a home in Chapel Hill that backed up to the woods, at the end of a cul-de-sac.

“It felt like we were in a treehouse,” she said.

Hagen often scouts the area ahead of their arrival, searching for a church — a priority — and hunting for homes. He often drives around the area, visiting real estate offices and jotting down phone numbers spotted on For Rent signs, and then reports back to Amy. By now, he knows what fits their needs. The priority is location, near shopping and services and far from highways or busy streets so the children can play safely in the yard. When they do finally find a house, as they recently did in Mountain Lakes, N.J., less and less comes with them each time. Pictures, photo albums and memorabilia — ticket stubs, game balls and the like — always make the trip. Hagen’s entire assortment of team-issued T-shirts, an expanding collection, does not.

Shooting a knowing look at her husband, Amy said, proudly, “he just cleaned some out.”

The ones he does hold on to remind him of the past, of euphoric victories and agonizing defeats, of former pupils and colleagues, of a team he once pledged allegiance to — and, later, would try to throttle once a season. Rex Ryan’s sons, Payton and Seth, were huge fans of Oklahoma while he worked there, and then Ryan was sacked.

“They had all this stuff,” Ryan said. “I had to be like, ‘Oh, by the way, your dad just got fired from O.U.’ ”

Ryan views the nomadic profession from a similar perspective, having moved a few times during his childhood and adolescence to follow his father, Buddy, a longtime N.F.L. coach, while having also uprooted his own wife, Michelle, and sons at various times. Ryan recalled when he accepted a post at Eastern Kentucky and had to move up his wedding a day to accommodate an exam that Michelle had to take to be certified to teach in the state.

“We took our wedding night at a Best Western, so it was big time,” Ryan said.

Ryan, though, turned serious when discussing his shift to the Jets in January 2009 from the Baltimore Ravens, where he had worked for 10 seasons. Given the choice, Payton elected to stay behind, living with Ryan’s brother-in-law, to finish his final two years of high school in Maryland.

“From a dad standpoint, that was really tough,” Ryan said. “He’d come up here sometimes, but it wasn’t the same.”

Hagen experienced a similar situation in February, when his family remained in Ohio so his oldest son, Nash, could finish his senior year. Citing the adventurous spirit they must have inherited from him — the day before the interview, Hagen decided to swim across a lake by their home; his three eldest children jumped in behind him — Hagen said he was grateful that everyone had adjusted well, making friends easily and embracing the change in scenery.

Conversations over the years have assured him as much, particularly one last season, when he was still coaching in Cleveland. It was with his 16-year-old daughter, Hanna.

“Do you think we’re going to move again?” she said.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Why?”

“I just think we’ve seen everything here,” she said. “It’s time to go have a new adventure.”

Rex Ryan is a defensive-minded coach who, in the past, has preached a Ground & Pound philosophy on offense. Ryan has said he's not married to that philosophy, but he also wasn't pleased that the Jets called only 16 running plays in the preseason opener -- compared to 42 pass plays.

"You never want to have just [16] rushes -- or whatever it was in a game," Ryan said Tuesday. "You don't want that. But will we throw the ball more than we run it? That's certainly a possibility."

Coordinator Marty Mornhinweg, known as a pass-happy coach in his years with the Eagles, was asked in a separate interview if he has spoken with Ryan about achieving offensive balance.

"Who said you need to be balanced?" Mornhinweg said. "You score points throwing the ball. Now you're getting into a philosophical situation. Look it, we don't care how we get it done -- running, passing, we don't care who gets the credit. It's whatever it takes to win the next game."

Other takeaways from Ryan's Tuesday presser:

TWO-GAP SHELDON: Sheldon Richardson's role on defense -- specifically, whether he's a scheme fit in the 3-4 -- is a sensitive subject for Ryan.

"This young man can almost do anything you can ask a D-lineman to do," Ryan said of the first-round pick. "When you look at him traditionally, as some people saw, he can be a three-technique, up-field type guy. Well, yes he can, but he can also do everything else. So I think he's not just limited to one style of defense. And that's why when we drafted him. I thought it was funny, 'Oh, hey, he doesn't fit the system.' Well, what system is that? Our system is multiple. We take advantage of guys' movement skills, we take advantage of the athleticism of our guys. So, to me, he certainly fits us."

SANCHEZ vs. SMITH: WHO'S WINNING?

Tuesday's advantage: Sanchez
Mark Sanchez's day: Took most of the first-team reps, went 2-for-4 (one drop), with 1 TD pass and 1 sack.
Geno Smith's day: Finished 4-for-8, but threw three straight incompletions inside the opponents' 10.
Quote: "He's had his moments where he's looked great. ... Did he have a couple of rough days? Absolutely, but everybody has had some rough days" -- Rex Ryan on Smith.

DON'T BOO MARK: The Jets play at home Saturday night, their first game at MetLife Stadium since last Dec. 23. The home fans didn't get a chance to boo Mark Sanchez in that game because he didn't play -- Greg McElroy did -- but they're not likely to embrace him, considering all that went down last season.

Ryan wishes the fans would cut him some slack.

"I certainly hope that we can move past it and we can focus on what's in front of us, and give not just Mark, but all of us a fair shake," he said. "This is your football team, but you certainly have a right to do whatever you choose. If you want to boo whoever it is, our fans certainly have that right. To me, yeah, I absolutely hope that doesn't happen. I hope that everybody is behind us 100 percent."

Don't bet on it.

WRINKLES: We know the Jets will use the Wildcat this season. Ryan also has mentioned the possibility of using the Pistol, as the 49ers did last year with QB Colin Kaepernick.

"If your quarterback has the mobility to do some of that stuff, then I don't understand why you wouldn't do it," he said. "There are other ways of getting to it. If you have a guy like a Jeremy Kerley or a Bilal Powell, who can throw the ball, that can be accomplished that way as well."

A day later, Rex Ryan admitted that he was "wrong" to predict that the Jets' defense would finish in the top 5. He said he doesn't want to put any added pressure on his players."I'm out of the prediction business," Ryan said. "... I don't want to put any extra pressure on the players or anyone else, just put it all on me. So wherever it ends up, if it's not good enough then it comes right down on me and that's where it should be. If it's good enough then it should go to the players and the coaches." Ryan rubbed many in the NFL the wrong way in his previous seasons as Jets coach by predicting that his team would win a Super Bowl, only to fall short.

WHAT'S UP, JOE? Joe McKnight went through a full-contact practice for the second straight day but declined to speak to the media to clear up comments he made about his health.

In an interview with the Associated Press, McKnight said he suffered a concussion earlier in training camp, but the team never officially called it a concussion.

On Wednesday, Rex Ryan was asked to clarify. He remained steadfast that McKnight's ailment was a "head injury" but not a concussion.

McKnight declined to speak with reporters after Wednesday's practice.

"I'm staying with the head injury," Ryan said. "Right now, the last two days he's been out there full pads so that's good to see. My information was that it was a head injury and that's all I'm comfortable saying about it."

When a reporter asked Ryan why McKnight would be able to practice with what the player described as a "concussion," Ryan dismissed the question.

"I'll stand by our doctors and our trainers and not look for a witch hunt," he said.

McKnight has had a bizarre training camp. He failed his conditioning test on the first day of camp, was arrested on outstanding traffic warrants (and later released) and suffered a head injury.

Last Monday, McKnight left practice wearing an oxygen mask after he dropped to the field during a drill. He then got into a dustup with a Twitter user whom he thought was a member of the media.

All he said on Wednesday when approached by reporters was "I'm done talking for the week." McKnight said he would address reporters again next Wednesday.

REX EXCITED ABOUT VLAD: Ryan has been impressed with the play of Vlad Ducasse, who has gotten reps at left guard with the first team for the past two practices.

The Jets apparently aren't comfortable with Caleb Schlauderaff and Erik Cook as the backup center, so they gave some reps to Stephen Peterman at backup center, creating an opportunity for Ducassse, a former second-round pick.

"He actually played left guard, right guard and right tackle in a game and did a tremendous job for us against Jacksonville," Ryan said of Ducasse. "I think he's really pushing. I think there's no doubt that Vlad's pushing for [a starting spot]."

ELLIS OUT FOR SATURDAY: Injured lineman Kenrick Ellis (back) said that he will not play on Saturday against the Giants but plans to play in the Jets' final preseason game and remains confident that he'll be ready for Week 1.... Ryan said the training staff deciding to give cornerback Dee Milliner (calf) the day off to give him a chance to rest his injury and get closer to 100 percent.

Today, another hot day. It was good to get out there. Actually competition against each other sure we take care of our own. We got a made it a little too spirited. Got to make little chippy there in some of those periods. I thought it was very competitive and I like what I saw out there. Unfortunately Lex Hilliard, we had to put him on IR with the shoulder, and he is going to need a procedure for that. That’s really unfortunate because Lex is a tremendous player and also a tremendous person and he’s just a tough guy and it’s just an unfortunate thing. You know, just one of those things where you have a 9-on-7 drill, live contact drill, it wasn’t tackling but it was full speed and it’s unfortunate that that happened.
On if he was disappointed to see Antonio Cromartie hit Stephen Hill hard during a drill...
I think there’s thud and then there’s like over-the-top thud, and I was disappointed because we have to protect each other. Stephen was running full speed and all that. Cro actually came off his coverage and made the hit, and again I don’t think he intended to certainly hurt Stephen, but still we have got to be smarter. [You're in] great position, just let it go. I think that’s what we need to do. Sometimes when you say thud, guys have a tendency, especially when it gets close to that goal line, to put a little extra on it, but we certainly don’t need to do that, we have to take care of each other.
On if he knows who will start at quarterback for the third preseason game…
I think both guys looked good today. But we will see, again, how everything is tomorrow. We’re not ready to do that yet, we haven’t discussed anything as far as that goes right now.
On if he anticipates announcing the starting quarterback Thursday…
Hey, I guess we can anticipate it, I think that’s fair to say, but we really don’t want to put a timetable on it. You know eventually we have to name one, so we’ll see.
On if today was Geno Smith’s best day of practice…
It wasn’t brutal, that’s for sure [laughing]. That was a great day. I don’t know if that was his best day, because he’s had a lot of good ones, but he had a great one today.
On Joe McKnight saying he had a concussion recently…
I’m staying with a head injury. You know right now, the last two days, he has been out there full pads so that’s good to see. My information is it was a head injury and that’s all I’m comfortable saying about it.
On why McKnight practiced when suffering from a migraine after he couldn’t make it out to the field…
Well again, our trainers, this isn’t there first rodeo with anything. When our trainers say that a young man can practice then he’s been cleared to practice. It’s as simple as that. The fact that Joe was in a red jersey meant non-contact and there was no contact that day. You might recall he went down. He caught a ball and then fell to the ground and that’s where he got hurt. But I’ll stand by our doctors and our trainers and not look for a witch hunt.
On if he was not informed that McKnight had a concussion…
I was saying, what I get was he was out, or limited, or whatever with a head injury and that’s all, and that’s what I’m comfortable saying. Unless something specifically was there that says concussion, then I’m going to say exactly what was on the list.
On him being uninformed of the injury…
I was informed that he had a head injury. That was it. I lean on the trainers and the doctors as does any coach in this league and that was what was told to me.
On where his offense will rank this year after saying the defense will rank top 5…
Well you know what’s funny? See I think I’m wrong by saying that. I shouldn’t say that because I am out of the prediction business, but I know where I believe everything is going to end up, I have always said that about the defensive unit because every one of you says, well that’s my expertise. So that’s fine and I’ll just put that on my shoulders. That that’s where it’s going to be I don’t want to put any extra pressure on the players or anything else, just put it all on me. So where ever it ends up, if it’s not good enough it comes right down on me and that’s where it should be. If it is good enough it should go to the players and the coaches. That’s fine and I have always felt that. I am not going to put where we are going to rank offensively, special team all that. I was probably wrong by saying that to the defense because I certainly don’t want to burden our players, but we better be there, and it comes to me it’s on my shoulders period, and that’s it.
On if he will address Cromartie’s with him in the locker room…
I’ll talk to our team about it. We have to take care of each other, and that’s it. Now look, I love Cro being aggressive. When Cro is aggressive he is as good as any corner out there. So there’s a fine line, you want to be aggressive but you have to protect your teammate above all else. Sometimes when you get down there, the competitiveness of you, you don’t want to see anybody move that football or cross that line that’s for sure, but at the same time it’s more important to take care of your teammates above all else.
On how his father coached has an influence on how he wants to conduct practices…
Well, I recognize the fact that in training camp and in hot days in particular, those things happen, kind of turns the heat up on a lot of things, but at the same time, I’d just prefer not see fights and all that kind of stuff. I just want to see us get better. I think that’s the big thing. I love the competition, but you don’t have to press me to bite being over the top of that, whether it’s fighting or whatever.
On Hill’s condition…
Well you guys saw him on the field, the end of the thing, as the old Randy Moss deal. Guys got coverage and he snags the ball over somebody, so I think Stephen’s fine.
On the kicking competition…
Again, we’ll let it play out. We have two good kickers and that’s kind of where we were last year, I felt the same thing. I think we’ve done a good job of bringing guys and both those guys are kicking the ball well.
On if Dee Milliner will practice tomorrow…
I’m not sure. Again, as I mentioned a little yesterday, we were hoping he would be progressing a little better, so this is just a little time to get him right. It’s not like it’s a new injury at all. It’s just, we’re trying to get him closer to 100 percent than what he is and we thought, like I said, the trainers and doctors thought that giving him a little time to rest it, that we’ll accomplish that.
On Clyde Gate’s condition…
I’m not sure on that yet.
On if Vladimir Ducasse playing with the starters was a result of playing Stephen Peterman at center with the second team…
I think it’s a combination of both things. I think Vlad Ducasse, quite honestly, that was another guy that I was going to bring in for videos because he actually played left guard, right guard and right tackle in the game and did a tremendous job for us against Jacksonville, so I think he’s really pushing. I don’t think there’s any doubt that Vlad’s pushing for that, but we also want to see Stephen play center and that’s something that, actually I thought Stephen today, it was a better day today for him playing center than it was even yesterday, so you see him actually improving a little bit. I feel pretty good about him there.
On what Ducasse has improved on…
From top to bottom, you name it, mentally, instincts, physical. This is where you wanted him when you drafted him. You might have wanted him there a year before, but this is where he’s at now, so he looks pretty good to me.
On if Ducasse fits better at guard or tackle…
Well, for our football team, he’s got to be able to play both. We feel real fortunate to have the starting tackles we have and then same thing really at guard, but he’s a guy that has proven that he can play both.
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On how Santonio Holmes looks…
He seems excited, so I think that’s a good sign. But again, he’s going to lean on the trainers, we’re all going to lean on the trainers and the doctors and when they say he’s ready to go, he’ll be chomping at the bit. I can tell you that right now. He’s excited, I think he’s in great shape, which like I say, is unusual for a guy, he’s done everything but run routes and all that other kind of stuff, but we’ll see how it is. Hopefully, he can get on the field soon.
On if Chris Ivory will get a good deal of work on Saturday…
I like to definitely get him work, [Bilal] Powell and all the guys really, Tommy [Bohanon], but yeah, it’ll be good to see him. I tell you where I’ve been impressed, I mean his protection’s improved. Like, if somebody said today, he attacked a linebacker like he was a guard, so that was encouraging to me.
On if he would be confident with Tommy Bohanon being the starting fullback…
I certainly would be, but again, we’ll look at every opportunity out there, but certainly he’s been impressive in these camps and in practice, so I feel good about him. We also have Konrad [Reuland] that can play fullback as well, and like we said, he’s kind of the garbage man, whatever, he’s going to do it, tight end, U, fullback, whatever. He can do that, but again, we always keep all our options open and we’ll do that, but I’ve been very pleased with Tommy.
On what other attributes Bohanon will have to bring due to the lack of teams using fullbacks…
Well, we’ve used the fullback quite a bit I think and the fact that he can also play some tailback and he also does a good job on special teams.
On Braylon Edwards not practicing for the last three days…
You guys are going to be tired of hearing me say it, but that’s kind of his game-plan, so that’s the game-plan for him this week and we’ll see. Will he be out there tomorrow? I’m not sure, but I don’t have a schedule in front of me, but we’ll see how that goes. I know this past week I thought in the game against Jacksonville, he looked much better than he did actually against Detroit, so that was encouraging to me, but as far as him not being on the practice field, our guys do a tremendous job of getting our guys ready to play and we’ll just lean on them.
On if Edwards will play Saturday…
Well again, when he’ll play, I mean hey, if the trainers say let’s not play him this week, then we’re not going to play him.
On if it is realistic to expect Mike Goodson to open the season with the team…
Again, I’m going to say really what I’ve said about Goodson before. I’m not going to add anything to it right now. We’ll address that at the appropriate time.

Opening statement…
It’s not a surprise, I think, but we’re going to start Geno (Smith) this week. We’ll see how far we take him into this game but we will start him this week. Mark (Sanchez) will play also. I think (Smith’s) looked good. It seems like the ankle’s obviously much better than it was this past week. So I’m excited to see him play. I think Brian Winters will play some as another young man that really hasn’t played a whole lot. I don’t think he’s had any live scrimmage reps outside of the Green and White game so it’ll be good to see him play. Anybody else? Not sure. For guys that are going to be active, inactive, whatever, we’ll make sure we get you that information when we get it. That’s going to be my stance, if you will. Obviously, Lex Hillard, we talked about him, is going to go to IR. For the other guys, I’ll get a list from our trainers.

On the signing of WR Mohamed Massaquoi…

Yeah, we just signed him. That’s a young man we really liked when he was coming out. We really liked him. I know he’s spent time with Cleveland, spent time with my brother (Rob Ryan). And when I say that I meant he did spend time with him. It was tough, Cleveland and my brother (joking). I think we’re excited about him. We just picked him up. He’s starting (joking). That would be a story though, wouldn’t it? ‘Just run this card.’ Why can’t they do that, you know what I mean? I don’t see that happening. So I would assume he (won’t) do anything unless it’s, ‘Hey, run a post,’ or something.

On Braylon Edwards’ injury and if that is why the Jets signed Massaquoi…

Yeah, he’s been out for a few days. I don’t know if he’ll play. Again, we’ll address that, I think, with the trainers and things. He’s had a leg injury. I don’t know exactly what it is. He’s had a little leg (injury) and he’s also been on a pitch count. But we’ll get you that information as soon as we’re willing to say a guy’s not playing or he is playing. I think with us, you bring in competition. You’re right. It’s not a traditional signing at this stage of the game because you’re getting a veteran player, the fact (that) he’s had his moments in this league. He is a good player. He kind of reminds me of Jerricho Cotchery. When he came out, (he was) a tremendous person and a good football player. Hopefully we’ll see that from him here.

On how much is left to be determined with Sanchez and Smith…

I think you just let the body of work, we’ll certainly lean on that. Again, it’s an opportunity. You’re going against a good football team and so I think it’ll be good competition with both guys. We’ll see how it works out but I think obviously the competition in the third preseason game, I think is probably about the highest that it gets during the preseason.

On how long Smith will play…

Well, again, that really hasn’t been determined yet, but he’s certainly going to start and we’ll see as this thing progresses. I can’t give you a definitive answer on that yet.

On what Smith has to do to convince Ryan that he should be the starter…

I’m not going to put any parameters on what this player needs to show or anything else. I think obviously it’s an evaluation process still that we’re going through. I don’t want to say, ‘Look, he’s got to look like Phil Simms in the Super Bowl.’ That wasn’t a bad day though. He threw one incompletion, a terrible throw (joking). We’ll see. I don’t want to put any, ‘He’s got to be this percent,’ or whatever. I don’t think that’s fair for anybody.

On whether they could make the quarterback decision after the fourth preseason game…

We could because, like we’ve said the whole time, we’re not putting a timetable on this. When we’re ready to make that decision, and we feel great about it as an organization, then we’ll make that decision. Until then, we won’t. I certainly understand when we had the competition last time, we might have even announced the quarterback before the third game, so I think we all felt great about that decision then. Here, we want to make sure our evaluation is complete before we make that decision.

On whether they are dragging out the competition to see if Smith will be ready to start Week One…

No, I don’t believe so. We did say all along that it was going to be an equal competition, and I think, obviously, the fact that Geno wasn’t able to play last week, you never really saw him when there were “live bullets” so to speak. So, it wouldn’t be an equal competition had we not played it out this way.

On whether Sanchez could have won the competition after the Jacksonville game…

I think we had said all along that it was going to be a fair competition and it was on a level playing field. For Geno to only get two series or whatever, he was six-of-seven throwing, I don’t believe it would’ve been a complete process. Look into that any way you want, but that’s the truth. That’s what we said, that it was going to be a fair and even competition, and the winner of that competition is going to have to deserve it.

On Smith taking all the first-team reps this week…

It was a shorter week, too, but going into it, (Smith) had the starting reps one day of the previous week. So, it was similar.

On the process of discussing the quarterback competition with the staff…

We discuss not just the quarterbacks, but really our football team, and (those are) daily conversations that we have, John (Idzik) and myself, Marty (Mornhinweg), David (Lee), DT (Dennis Thurman). We have that ongoing conversation about our football team on a daily basis.

On whether he agrees naming the starting quarterback is his most important decision heading into the season…

It’s certainly going to get the most attention, that’s for sure. And I understand. Believe me, I understand that the quarterback will be a huge decision. But the main thing is that we feel great about the decision. We think it’s the right decision and that’s why this might have taken longer than other teams, but honestly, we don’t care about any other football team. We care about our football team. That’s the only thing that really matters.

On whether the meetings he has on the roster are formal or informal…

There certainly are the scheduled meetings. It’s not daily, but there are certainly scheduled meetings after games, whenever, a couple times a week. But the informal meetings, you’re right. I’ll pop in to see somebody. John and I will speak on the field almost every day. But we do have formal meetings and we have informal (meetings) as well.

On if he would prefer to have the starting quarterback decided after this preseason game…

You know what? I think right now it could have been easy to say hey we would have liked to have it the first day of training camp. I think the important thing is that it is a thorough evaluation. We’ve told our fans and everybody else that every single player is going to have to earn their way to be a starter. So when you see it on opening day whoever is out there running with those ones, is going to have to earn it and I think that’s kind of where we are at.

On if the team has to know who their quarterback is fairly quickly for leadership purposes…

Well, there’s so many guys battling for spots right now they are probably worried about themselves more than they’re worried about another position. SO when you look at it, we have a great competition going at several spots. We have Vladimir Ducasse, who is going to start at left guard this week. Part because we want to see Peterman play center, but the other part is he’s played so well that he’s in that competition. Brian Winters coming off that injury that we feel great about, so there’s great competition there. (There’s) great competition at the safety spot, so I think there’s probably other things that guys are concerned about more so than who’s the starting quarterback.

On whether he is concerned about not having a leader on offense in place…

Well I do. I have a leader in place already, playing center (Nick Mangold). We got a guy playing left tackle (D’Brickashaw Ferguson). So I understand what you are saying, the guy underneath center, I get it. But again it’s not time. Right now is not the appropriate time to name a starter because it’s incomplete. We’ll see what happens after this game. Do we make a decision immediately or do we wait? Again, the main thing is that it’s the right decision at the right time.

On if he misses two-a-day practices…

I thought we had an edge. I thought we had a big edge on opponents. It was something I stole, from the organization of two a day practices and things like that, that I stole from Bill Walsh. So it wasn’t certainly my genius (laughing). It was Bill Walsh’s genius, and it gave us an edge. It really did, I thought we were fresh. Look, I learned a ton from my dad and I love and respect my dad more than anybody, but those two-a-day practices, it was amazing that we were able to get through a season. It was unreal. So I really did, we would go pads in the morning, shells in the afternoon, or pads in the morning, or special teams, we would rotate days like that. I thought we had a great schedule and I thought it gave us an edge against the “Old School” that is just going to go line them up and just beat heads for two practices a day. But here, it’s more of a level playing field even though I think we have found a way. I really like our schedule this year in training camp. We will see what it means in wins and losses, but I’ve been searching for a few years and I feel really good about what our schedule looked like in training camp.

Clarification on whether the scheduled meetings he holds are to address the quarterbacks or the entire team…

Oh no those are for the entire team. So every single player on our roster, we will discuss. For instance, after every game we will meet. John (Idzik), myself, the coaches, the scouts, whoever, we will have a meeting, but it will be over everybody, not just one position. As far as daily things, John and I do speak every day, but is there a set time? Not necessarily. We don’t just discuss the one position, we discuss several ongoing battles. So that’s kind of where we are at.

New York Jets Training Camp, Cortland, N.Y. — Ben Kotwica knows a thing or two about leading warriors into battle, whether it’s real combat in Iraq or under the blazing stadium lights of the gridiron.

Kotwica grew up in Chicago as a die hard Bears fan and is now Special Teams Coordinator for the New York Jets. And on his journey to the NFL, he has served his country flying attack helicopters.

Kotwica began his career in football at the age of 9, when he and a group of friends decided to start playing football, something Kotwica said felt natural. “Football is my passion. I was a Bears fan and football has always been a part of me,” he said.

He continued to play football, and in 1993, when he was at Andrew High School in Chicago, Kotwica was recruited by Bob Sutton, then head coach of the Army Black Knights.

At West Point, Kotwica led the Black Knights to a 10-2 record and the Commander-in-Chief Trophy in 1996.

“Playing football in the Army was a tremendous experience for me, not only getting the opportunity to play Navy for four years but to play divisional football, get the leadership training that I received, as well as the education that I received,” said Kotwica, who was a linebacker and captain for the Black Knights. “I truly enjoyed my time there.”

After leaving West Point, Kowtica was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army and he was selected to fly the AH-64 Apache Longbow helicopter.

“I went to flight school training for over a year down in Alabama and towards the end of that training I got to pick an aircraft,” Kotwica said. He served for eight years, including a tour of duty in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, flying over 1,000 combat hours in support of five brigades within the 1st Cavalry Division. Other missions included deployments to Bosnia-Herzegovina and officer training in Camp Page in South Korea.

After leaving the military in early 2005, Kotwica wanted to return to football. “I had a decision to make. The military was good to me and I really enjoyed my experience but there was something else that he wanted to do,” he said.

Kotwica had the opportunity to become a graduate assistant coach at the U.S. Military Academy Preparatory School in Monmouth, N.J., for a year in 2005, after he got an email from Bobby Ross, who was a head coach for the Black Knights at the time and had an opening at the prep school to do be a defensive coordinator.

“I felt that was an opportunity I couldn’t pass,” said Kotwica, who has been coaching ever since.

He joined the Jets in 2008 as a Quality Control Coach. Bob Sutton, who was Kotwica’s coach at Army and later the Jets defensive coordinator, asked Kotwica if he wanted to join the Jets.

“It was a very good feeling. It was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. I was excited about the opportunity. I knew about the challenges ahead but it was a humbling experience, ” Kotwica said.

His career grew with the Jets and he was promoted this year to Special Teams Coordinator.

“Even when I was in the military, coaching in teaching — that’s what you do as a leader and so there are parallels between coaching and being an officer in the Army,” Kotwica said.

Kotwica’s goal for this season is a simple one — take the Jets all the way to the Superbowl.

New York Jets Training Camp, Cortland, N.Y. — Ben Kotwica knows a thing or two about leading warriors into battle, whether it’s real combat in Iraq or under the blazing stadium lights of the gridiron.

Kotwica grew up in Chicago as a die hard Bears fan and is now Special Teams Coordinator for the New York Jets. And on his journey to the NFL, he has served his country flying attack helicopters.

Kotwica began his career in football at the age of 9, when he and a group of friends decided to start playing football, something Kotwica said felt natural. “Football is my passion. I was a Bears fan and football has always been a part of me,” he said.

He continued to play football, and in 1993, when he was at Andrew High School in Chicago, Kotwica was recruited by Bob Sutton, then head coach of the Army Black Knights.

At West Point, Kotwica led the Black Knights to a 10-2 record and the Commander-in-Chief Trophy in 1996.

“Playing football in the Army was a tremendous experience for me, not only getting the opportunity to play Navy for four years but to play divisional football, get the leadership training that I received, as well as the education that I received,” said Kotwica, who was a linebacker and captain for the Black Knights. “I truly enjoyed my time there.”

After leaving West Point, Kowtica was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army and he was selected to fly the AH-64 Apache Longbow helicopter.

“I went to flight school training for over a year down in Alabama and towards the end of that training I got to pick an aircraft,” Kotwica said. He served for eight years, including a tour of duty in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, flying over 1,000 combat hours in support of five brigades within the 1st Cavalry Division. Other missions included deployments to Bosnia-Herzegovina and officer training in Camp Page in South Korea.

After leaving the military in early 2005, Kotwica wanted to return to football. “I had a decision to make. The military was good to me and I really enjoyed my experience but there was something else that he wanted to do,” he said.

Kotwica had the opportunity to become a graduate assistant coach at the U.S. Military Academy Preparatory School in Monmouth, N.J., for a year in 2005, after he got an email from Bobby Ross, who was a head coach for the Black Knights at the time and had an opening at the prep school to do be a defensive coordinator.

“I felt that was an opportunity I couldn’t pass,” said Kotwica, who has been coaching ever since.

He joined the Jets in 2008 as a Quality Control Coach. Bob Sutton, who was Kotwica’s coach at Army and later the Jets defensive coordinator, asked Kotwica if he wanted to join the Jets.

“It was a very good feeling. It was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. I was excited about the opportunity. I knew about the challenges ahead but it was a humbling experience, ” Kotwica said.

His career grew with the Jets and he was promoted this year to Special Teams Coordinator.

“Even when I was in the military, coaching in teaching — that’s what you do as a leader and so there are parallels between coaching and being an officer in the Army,” Kotwica said.

Kotwica’s goal for this season is a simple one — take the Jets all the way to the Superbowl.

Misjudgment in Saturday debacle further proves coach should stick to defense

The New York Jets are stuck with Rex Ryan now, just like they are stuck with Geno Smith. The Jets are alarmingly weak at the two most important positions in the sport -- head coach and quarterback -- and only Smith has a good excuse for his performance, or lack thereof.He's not only a rookie, but a rookie coming off an ankle injury. His three interceptions and a ghastly safety ripped straight from the Mark Sanchez playbook Saturday night can be dismissed as the cost of doing preseason business with a 22-year-old trying to learn on the fly.But the 50-year-old Ryan is no novice, even if he often acts like one. In his fifth season with the Jets, Rex proved in this exhibition game with the New York Giants that he still has no idea how to coach/develop/protect quarterbacks, and that he still isn't fit to lead.

Ryan is a middle manager making CEO money. He's a nice guy and a very good defensive coordinator who is overmatched as a head coach.

Rex Ryan and the Jets looked lost Saturday against the Giants.He's a Jets employee who should've been let go with Mike Tannenbaum before the new general manager, John Idzik, took office.And now it's too late for Woody Johnson, owner, to sack the coach who just blindsided Sanchez, his sure starter, by throwing him out there in the fourth quarter with the second-teamers who were ill-equipped to keep the quarterback upright.On cue, Sanchez absorbed a wicked hit from Giants tackle Marvin Austin, and by now you know the rest. Between Sanchez's X-rays and MRI exam, Ryan served up lame non-answers and amateur-hour behavior in his postgame news conference, turning his back on reporters pressing for more on Sanchez and Smith.

It's too late for Johnson to do anything about this embarrassing night at MetLife Stadium because you don't fire a coach before Week 1 of the regular season, and because there isn't a low-risk replacement on Ryan's staff (though I'd gamble on the recently promoted defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman over new offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg, who was 5-27 as head coach in Detroit). Firing Rex now likely improves the odds of an ugly 6-10 year devolving into a season that could put Rich Kotite's two to shame.So now Ryan might have to get by with Idzik's preferred quarterback, Smith, rather than his own choice, Sanchez, who might not be ready for the season opener. Best of luck with that. The conflicting agendas of a restructured front office and an incumbent head coach trying to save his rump were always bound to create the kind of issues that surfaced Saturday night, when Ryan quite possibly saw an opportunity to pounce after that safety (Smith stepped out of the end zone on a pass attempt) and went for Idzik/Smith's throat.

He got Sanchez's shoulder instead.

"That was my decision," Ryan said of putting his four-year starter in the game.Nobody earning a Jets paycheck was foolish enough to dispute that.Sanchez didn't expect to play after Smith went three quarters and change, and he didn't want to take the field with backups around him, sources told ESPNNewYork.com's Rich Cimini. Matt Simms appeared to be preparing to take the field before Sanchez was suddenly told to warm up, another exercise in comedy and futility as two footballs simultaneously tossed in his direction were sort of butt-fumbled away.LaDainian Tomlinson, a pro's pro and former Sanchez teammate, said on the NFL Network that the quarterback's body language screamed that he didn't want to be out there. So why was he out there in the first place ? Though it's hard to come up with a reasonable explanation for an unreasonable act, here are two theories that make more sense than Ryan's insistence that he merely wanted his quarterbacks to compete:

1) Wanting to open the regular season with Sanchez all along (if only because he's the devil the coach knows), Ryan figured he could put a bigger spotlight on Smith's own follies by making Sanchez look like Johnny U. against the Giants' reserves.

2) The Christmas Eve loss to Tom Coughlin's Giants in 2011 was the beginning of Rex's end, leaving him to play the fool in a market he promised his team would own, a market the Giants reclaimed with another Super Bowl victory over the Jets' tormentors to the north. So Ryan badly wanted to beat Coughlin in anything, even in an exhibition, and he felt Sanchez (not Simms) gave him the best shot at his precious little Snoopy trophy.

Not that Ryan's source of motivation really matters here. At a time in the NFL when nothing is more important than keeping your best quarterback healthy, Ryan exposed Sanchez on a reckless whim. It shouldn't come as much of a surprise.In September 2011, with the Jets holding a 26-point, fourth-quarter lead over the Jacksonville Jaguars, Ryan had Sanchez throw into the end zone to Plaxico Burress because the coach was afraid Burress (held without a catch) would feel left out of all the fun. Never mind that Sanchez had been tested for a possible concussion six days earlier; Rex put him in danger by ordering the pass and, of course, the 6-foot-4, 275-pound Matt Roth blasted him around his right shoulder and dropped him hard onto his back.

"It was my fault," Ryan said that day.

So was his decision to dress Tim Tebow and his fractured ribs last Thanksgiving night, when the Patriots tore down whatever was left of Ryan's program. A year after conceding he'd lost his 8-8 team, the final 6-10 record, the dearth of credible playmakers, the decision to hire Tony Sparano as offensive coordinator and the titanic Tebow disaster made no such admission necessary.Johnson spared him anyway, just to have Ryan ignore his dueling quarterbacks in their first preseason game, to have him practice Smith on a bad ankle (before calling Smith's effort that day "brutal"), and to have him push Sanchez into a perilous situation for no good cause.

Once again, Rex Ryan, a nice guy and a good defensive coordinator, proved he isn't fit to lead. He'll continue to lead the New York Jets regardless.

New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan has a combined 14-18 record the past two seasons, with his team missing the playoffs both years. Those losses have put Ryan on the coaching hot seat and now, he appears to be losing his once cozy relationship with the media.

On Saturday night following the Jets' 24-21 overtime win – yes, mind you, win – over the Giants in their third game of preseason, Ryan turned his back on a member of the media. Literally.What set Ryan off was a question where a reporter called him “irresponsible” for putting last year’s starting quarterback Mark Sanchez into the game in the fourth quarter. On Sanchez’s second drive, he was thrown to the ground by Giants defensive lineman Marvin Austin and injured his shoulder. He left the game and headed to the locker room for X-rays and an MRI on Sunday morning. The latest on Sanchez is that he won't play in the preseason finale and is officially day-to-day.It is perplexing that Sanchez was put into the game with a second-team offensive line comprised mainly of rookies against a Giants pass rush also filled of young players who were looking to make the roster. The move to put Sanchez on the field clearly backfired and Ryan took a lot of heat for it in the press conference afterwards.But instead of fighting fire with fire, Ryan instead came off as childish and immature as he was pressed for an answer.

The reporter then followed up his “irresponsible” question with a follow-up about rookie quarterback Geno Smith and how the competition to win the starting job is playing out. Ryan artfully dodged the timetable for naming a starter, even after Smith threw three interceptions on Saturday night in his first preseason start and looked anything but ready.The reporter, from a New York City tabloid, pressed and asked Ryan, “Is that a yes or a no?” A terse exchange followed that led to Ryan, usually loved by the media for his outlandish quotes and guffaw theatrics from the podium, giving an uncharacteristically angry answer after being pressed a third time for more specifics.

Ryan pulled out the ultimate trump card: the First Amendment of the Constitution.

“I can say anything I want, that’s the beauty of this country. I will stand backwards and answer the question, I will do it sideways,” Ryan said as he turned backwards on the reporter. “At the appropriate time we will make the announcement when I think it’s the appropriate time.”Then, as if realizing he went too far, he then took the next question an jokingly answered it with his back initially turned. It is enough to make one laugh all the way to the unemployment line, which is where Ryan might be going if he doesn’t win some games this year.Many critics have accused the media of being soft on Ryan because he is such a quote machine and not pressing him on the many shortcomings of his team the past two years. Entering his fifth year with the Jets, Ryan took the beleaguered franchise to consecutive AFC championship games in his first two seasons in New York but then has failed to even make the playoffs the next two seasons.

Not everyone in the media cares, mind you, but it is likely to create a hostile environment for a coach who needs all the help he can get.Now with his grip on his job tenuous at best, Ryan appears to have lost the battle of the back pages as well.

Even with the start of the NFL season nearly two weeks away, you don't need a Las Vegas bookmaker to pick a favorite for the first coach likely to be fired.

It's Rex Ryan.

At the rate he's burning through whatever goodwill is left on the Jets' side of town, he'll be lucky to still be working the sideline when they kick it off for real Sept. 8 against Tampa Bay.Ryan was eerily calm at a news conference Monday, fending off question after question about: a) his bizarre decision to risk quarterback Mark Sanchez's health late in Saturday night's preseason game against the crosstown Giants; and b) the even-more bizarre postgame meltdown during which Ryan did everything — including invoking the Constitution — to avoid explaining that decision."Do I regret that he got injured? Of course," Ryan finally acknowledged a day and a half later. "But again, I'm not going to say anything more about it, because I covered that already."Not surprising, the next question was whether Jets owner Woody Johnson or new general manager John Idzik had spoken to Ryan about his performance Saturday night.

"No. Absolutely not," Ryan replied, before heading for the exit.

Even if that's true, he'll be called to the principal's office soon enough.Ryan came to town four years ago with impeccable defensive credentials, plenty of bluster and a promise to win championships. Instead, his tenure has provided a textbook study on why some very smart coordinators aren't cut out to be head coaches: They talk a great game, but they only really "get" what happens on what used to be their side of the ball.In Ryan's case, it almost seems genetic. His father, Buddy, was the same way. It's also why Ryan's twin brother, Rob, currently in New Orleans beginning his fourth stint as a defensive coordinator in the NFL, probably won't ever get a shot.There's a neat little story about how the old man reacted when both sons were finishing college and told Buddy they wanted to follow him into the profession: He piled them into the car and drove to a motel not far from his family home in Oklahoma. Buddy spent the next two days making them watch film morning until night, teaching them everything he knew.

In hindsight, putting Buddy's reputation for handling QBs alongside Rex's, it's probable that whenever the word "quarterback" came up during those study sessions, it was followed by words like "crush" and "destroy." Based on the way Rex Ryan has brought Sanchez along, not to mention his flirtation with Tim Tebow, it's clear his thinking hasn't evolved much.

"I like where our quarterbacks are," Ryan said Monday.

Ryan's job was already on the line at the end of last season. Idzik inherited him and barely needs an excuse to disown him.If Johnson and Idzik are genuinely worried about the Jets' season, let alone the team's reputation, they might as well start negotiating the severance check now and nudge Ryan in the direction of the back door. His stay began with plenty of fanfare and some impressive results — back-to-back losses in the AFC championship game — but like Buddy, given enough time, he wears a team out.More than a few coaches and GMs who were fired last season got pink slips because they couldn't develop a quarterback, let alone uncover one already on the roster. Ryan has proven he's not about to learn any new tricks, and after the stunt he pulled Saturday night, he's going to have a hard time finding anyone to bail him out.

Rex Ryan has taken his lumps as Jets coach and deserved some of them. But ultimately it’s the man in the owner’s box who’s to blame for the shape the Jets are in

It has never been a better week to play the blame game and make Rex Ryan the loser every time, but jumping on the Jets’ fifth-year head coach alone is viewing the chaotic events of last Saturday night’s New York Bowl in total isolation. Ryan may be the biggest, easiest target here—although clearly not as big as he once was, in the literal sense—but he’s not the only one deserving to draw a blanket of unrelenting fire.Mark Sanchez’s fourth-quarter shoulder injury should have never happened. Period. But I could say that about any number of curious and stupefying decisions that have been made in the Jets organization the past few years, and many of them can’t be traced to Ryan. And even the ones that can still pale compared to the blunders made above his pay grade.So go ahead and pin the tail of fault on this donkey, but don’t forget to save some blame for that shadowy figure standing way in the back, out of the spotlight. The one who answers to “Woody.”

Ryan is the guy taking all the punches this week, while, somehow, the one who set up this whole doomed boxing match—Jets owner Woody Johnson—is watching unnoticed and unassailed from ring side. If we step back from the firestorm of the moment for just a bit, we can see the question of which struggling Jets quarterback (Sanchez or rookie Geno Smith) gets to preside over the dreadful season of football to come in New York isn’t really the most important story here.

You're Fired?

With his incomprehensible move to play Mark Sanchez in the fourth quarter against the Giants, and his bizarre post-game press conference, Rex Ryan has guaranteed his imminent demise in New York, Peter King writes.

Meanwhile, the offense is a mess, and, in worse news, the defense isn't good enough to bail it out anymore. It's going to be a long year, Andy Benoit writes as he previews the 2013 Jets.The big-picture issue that matters most is Johnson’s lousy leadership of a franchise that continues to make bad decisions with predictably bad results. The Jets are becoming adept at assembling all the ingredients for disaster, playing around with them, and then watching with chagrin as they blow up in their face (see Tebow, Tim). And by now, we’re inclined to look New York’s way at all times, because the explosions keep coming at such a steady pace.Johnson keeps pushing back against the “circus”’ label that has been attached to his team, calling it patently unfair. And he’s partly right. But his argument would get much stronger if the Jets could keep the jugglers and the clowns away for a full season. And alas, 2013 is not shaping up to be that year of legitimacy.

For starters, it was kind of easy to foresee that the shotgun marriage of new general manager John Idzik and an embattled holdover head coach in Ryan was a bad idea with little or no chance of success. But Johnson likes Ryan and decreed it be that way, despite few recent historical examples where such an arrangement worked long-term in the NFL.It didn’t work twice for the Bears: The Jerry Angelo-Dick Jauron tandem was short-lived, as was the Phil Emery-Lovie Smith combination. It didn’t work in Cleveland when Mike Holmgren chose to keep Eric Mangini for another worthless season. And ultimately it didn’t work in San Diego, where A.J. Smith inherited Marty Schottenheimer, then proceeded to battle with him for three years while the team was compiling AFC West titles but no real playoff success.Forcing a new general manager to keep a head coach usually results in a power struggle and a coaching change, and it’s the rare situation where success ensues. The Giants in 2007 were able to transition seamlessly from Ernie Accorsi to Jerry Reese at general manager while Tom Coughlin remained the coach, but it helped considerably that Reese was elevated into the job from within the organization, and wasn’t coming from the outside with his own set of experiences and power base.

So Idzik and Ryan set off to do business together, and what has Ryan gotten out of the deal so far? With Idzik determined to clean up the team’s salary cap mess—which Johnson allowed to develop under the tenure of former GM Mike Tannenbaum—the Jets took Ryan’s oft-avowed best player, cornerback Darrelle Revis, and shipped him off in trade to Tampa Bay. Then Idzik and the front office lined up behind the drafting of second-round quarterback Geno Smith, a pick that clearly complicated the Jets quarterback situation and was rife for creating more melodrama for Ryan.So while the Jets rot away this year in the AFC East, cleaning up their cap situation and making a serious run at the Jadeveon Clowney draft slot in 2014, Ryan is the guy who will be left twisting in the wind. He’ll be sent out there on a weekly basis to take the heat, and then, when the debacle is finished, he’ll undoubtedly take the fall.Ryan is far from blameless in this mess, and he’s made his share of mistakes, with self-created problems aplenty. But he’s also a good coach with a pretty decent track record as a head coach (making the playoffs half the time will get you a job in this league), and he shouldn’t even be in this no-win situation. Whether he admits it or not, Johnson has set Ryan up to fail this season, and I’m convinced he and his Jets are going to get it done.

Given the inevitability of it all, I can understand why Ryan lost it a little bit in his post-game news conference Saturday night. He can see where this thing is heading, and the Sanchez injury that he allowed to happen is just another brick in the wall that will eventually cave in on him. What do you want to bet that Johnson, the architect of the Jets collapse, gets away relatively unscathed?They say in the NFL that head coaches and quarterbacks get too much of the credit when they win and too much of the blame when they lose, and that’s usually the case. But in New York this year, that handy rule of thumb really shouldn’t apply. When the Jets go down in flames this season, most of the fault should belong to the guy at the top. The Jets are Woody Johnson’s team, and this is definitely a disaster of his making.

Rex Ryan press conferences could determine if he gets TV gig next year

Nobody needs Ch. 2 to see Ryan’s postgame podium performances, which are carried by a number television and radio outlets. There will be plenty of people paying attention, including TV suits interested in hiring Ryan if the fate already etched in stone by all-knowing ones actually becomes reality.

Will Rex Ryan be in studio rather than the football field next season ?

For those who believe having access to all Jets games on TV is a birthright, the Time Warner Cable/CBS blackout is frustrating. The good news is it can’t stop anyone from following Rex Ryan, once the straw who stirred the drink but now just a broken swizzle stick.

At least that’s how he’s being portrayed.

Nobody needs Ch. 2 to see Ryan’s postgame podium performances, which are carried by a number television and radio outlets. There will be plenty of people paying attention, including TV suits interested in hiring Ryan if the fate already etched in stone by all-knowing ones actually becomes reality.

It does not matter if Ryan has turned lame or lame duck. Some of the coach’s words (“I can say anything I want. That’s the beauty of this country.”) have been downright inspirational. Inspiring enough for some to stick their beaks (and, in one case, a famously large belly) into the spin zone to defend Ryan against media forces of evil.

The “new” Ryan has been psychoanalyzed, dissected in print and on the air. He has been compared to Twiggie. He has been defined as soft spoken and chastened.

Still the man known as dead-coach-walking remains a force, albeit one of few words. Most of these media shrink sessions end the same. Scribes who had problems with his bluster and bellicose predictions, the same folks who encouraged him to retreat, now want their old Rex back.Or as NFL Network’s Mark Kriegel wrote: “. . . No one needs a circumspect Rex Ryan. No one needs another football coach who sounds like he needs a bran muffin. You can love Rex. You can loathe him . . . Just be honest: You miss that perceptive prince of bombast. And, perhaps, the Jets will, too.”

All this stuff has gone down before one game that counts has been played. Maybe the regular season puts the mega back in his mouth. Winning, however unlikely, could do that. If the results go as expected, Ryan could verbally retreat further. The questions, the follow-ups, the badgering will be relentless. Instead of turning his back on reporters, Ryan might completely turn off.How Ryan deals with this will be worth watching. By midseason, it could wind up being the only form of entertainment the Jets have left to offer. If that scenario plays out, Ryan will be looking for a new gig in 2014. It likely will be in coaching as a defensive coordinator. At one time, there appeared to be television opportunities for him, too.

Have they dried up? Will the organization’s decision to have Ryan tone his act down totally strip him of the big-time personality that would play so well on TV? Will the media pressure he now faces leave a permanent mark? Or is the thinking that, once he leaves the Jets, he can go back to being Rex?